Nick Castellanos waits to take grounders at the 3rd base before playing against the Atlanta Braves at Spring Training In Lake Buena Vista, Florida on Saturday, March 3, 2012. JULIAN H. GONZALEZ/Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press

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Detroit Free Press Sports Writer

On Wednesday, Nick Castellanos heard from the Tigers that he will have a shot at winning the third base job. / Leon Halip/Getty Images

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To become re-accustomed to third base, Nick Castellanos is now taking approximately 600 ground balls there per day. He plans to keep doing so six days per week until spring training starts in February.

“I’m taking them both off the machine and off the bat,” he said. “Forehand plays, backhand plays, balls right at me, one-hand drill — everything.”

If he hadn’t moved from third base to the outfield, he figures he’d be taking about 150 to 200 grounders per day. To compensate for the time he missed at third, he’s taking about 400 extra grounders per day. That gets him up to 600.

“I have a pretty good opportunity, and I don’t want to squander it,” he said.

The opportunity arrived Wednesday when the Tigers named him their primary third baseman for next season. Castellanos, who will turn 22 in March, will get his first crack as a big-league regular at the position he converted to from shortstop when the Tigers drafted him in 2010.

“I love third base,” he said on the phone today. “I love playing the infield. I’m happy to get to go back to it.”

Why does he like it more than the outfield, which he’s played for the last 1˝ seasons?

“In the infield, I’m more in tune with the game than in the outfield,” he said. “I think it also helps me with my hitting. In the infield, you don’t have time to think about at-bats after they happen.”

Think, as in dwell unnecessarily.

“You have to get your focus to play third,” he said.

When the Tigers traded Prince Fielder last month, Castellanos knew he might be headed back to third. Fielder’s arrival two years ago had sent Miguel Cabrera to third and Castellanos to the outfield.

On Monday of this week, having heard nothing about his position for next year, Castellanos resumed taking 150 to 200 grounders per day at third, just in case.

On Wednesday morning, manager Brad Ausmus told him he was moving back to third, the result of Cabrera’s return to first. So Castellanos, who lives in south Florida, immediately increased the off-season regimen to those 600 grounders or so per day. The drill takes 1˝ to two hours. When he arrives in spring training, he should be plenty warmed up for the hot corner.